Vacuum cleaner



Nov. 2 1926.

W. E. SHERBONDY VACUUM CLEANER Nov. 2

' 1,605,857 w. E. SHERBONDY VACUUM CLEANER Filed June 2, 1923v 4 sheets-sheet 2 Nov; 2, 1926. 1,605,857

W. E. SHERBONDY VACUUM CLEANER Nov. 2,1926. 1,605,857

`W. E. SHERBONDY Y VACUUM CLEANER' but on a larger scale;

like form.

which is horizontal as indicated at 12 and Patented Nov. 2, 1926.

UNITED I STATES WILLIAM E. SHERBONDY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

'VACUUM CLEANER.

Application led June 2,

This invention relates to vacuum cleaners or suction sweepers of the traction driven type. The general object of the invention is to provide a simple and eiiicient mechanism for this purpose having a suction fan rapidly rotated by means fof the forward propulsion of the sweeper. In my sweeper the parts are so disposed that the dust has a comparatively short litt Jfrom the suction mouth to ythedust receptacle, and in such movement takes a substantially straight course; the bearings for the rotating parts are arranged toy support them accurately in position and at the same time provide means for readily mounting such parts, and the gearing is not only efficient but is arranged to run-as noilessly as possible. All of the above characteristics of my invention are combined in a suction sweeper of very com pact and neat appearance.

The drawings show a preferred embodiment of my invention; Fig. 1 is a side elevationy of the suction sweeper; Fig. 2 is a plan thereof; Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal central section, as indicated by the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a horizontal section looking upwardly through the upper part of the casing, as indicated by the line 4-4 of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a perspective of the upper bearing member for the fan shaft; Fig. 6 is a vertical transverse section, as indicated by the line 6-6 in Fig. 2, Fig. 7 is a transverse section through thedriving train of gearing in a plane indicated by the line 7 7 in Fig. 1 but on a larger scale; Fig. 8 is a fragmentary vertical section illustrating a moditication ot parts shown in Fig. 3.

As shown in the drawings, the body or casing of the sweeper, comprises preferably two main members 10 and 20, which may be castings and are mounted one above the otherg and the former housing the fan and the latter the brush, and the two members having communicating air passageways leading from the suction mouth in the member to the discharge opening in the member 10.

I have shown in Figs. 1, Band 6, the up- Y per casting member 10 as of a`hollow drumthe rear portion of the top of the forward portion of which top inclines downwardly as at 13, which two portions terminate in a substantially vertical wall l1 whichjs nearly/cylindrical inform but 1923. senin No. 643,041.

is shown as somewhat of a spiral and terminates in its rear in flanges 14 defining the ejection opening to the dust receptacle.

The lowercasting 20 is shown as having a transversely elongated front portion 21 which has a substantially horizontal suction mouth and houses the brush 130 above the mouth and is shown as having a rearwardly extending central contracting portion 22 providing the air passageway from the mouth to they fan chamber in the upper casting. The lower casting has a horizontal top portion 23 and an opening 26 beneath the central part of the an chamber and at the rear of the passageway has a horizontal portion 24, these portions providing a base forthe fan chamber.

The two body castings described are suitably secured together to provide the intake passageway extending from the suc tion mouth 25 through the horizontal opening 26 into the fan chamber above the opening and thence rearwardly through the discharge opening 16 into the dust receptacle. It will be observed that the course ot this combined passageway from the intake 25 to the discharge 16 is substantially straight and has a comparatively small rise, as indicated by the inclined straight line A-A in Fig. 3 extending uninterruptedly from the intake opening into the dust receptacle.

While I have shown the casing as made of two castings as described, and such IV consider the preferred form, it is to be understood that it may, if desired, be made of more than two parts.

The top of the fan chamber is delined by a suitable horizontal member shown in Figs. 1, 3 and 6, as a sheet metal plate 28 which surrounds the fan shaft housing hereinafter described, and lies just above the fan 50. This plate may be *readily secured either to the under side of some of the ribs 15 or to ears/Or bossesfprovided to receive screws passing upwardly through the plate. At its rear portion, wardly as shown at 29 into Contact with the top portion of the casing.

The upper part of the casing as shown, carries a suitable housing or well in which the vertical fan shaft and its immediate 'gearing is mounted. As shown in Figs. 1,

3 and 6, this well is an integral part of the upper casting and comprises acylindrical depending.. portion .joining at its upper en the .top members,.while below this cythe plate is bent uplindrical portion is a conical portion 31 having a suitable annular ledge 32 adjacent the junction and at its lower end terminating in a cylindrical cup portion 33'adapted to house the lower bearing for the fan shaft. Resting on the ledge 32is an inverted conical member 40 which carries the upper bearing for the fan shaft, these bearings being hereinafter more fully described.

In place of the construction just described, one may employ such construction as illustrated in Fig. 8, where the top plate of the fan chamber. designated 28a, is a part of the frame and may be a casting connected integrally or otherwise with the vertical wall 11, and the upper bearing support for the fan shaft designated 40a is supported by and may be an integral part of the plate 28a. With this construction, the lower member 31a of the fan shaft housing may be separate and secured in place by screws 31". This construction has the advantage that a separate cap for the housing well is not necessary as a single cover plate 12L may extend continuously across the top resting on the webs 28b rising from t-he plate 28"!l and being secured by screws 12".

With the construction shown in Fig. 3, or that shown in Fig. 8, the fan shaft bearing depends into the fan chamber and the fan is arranged to surround it, thus making a very compact machine. The fan 50 is made up of an annular disk-like plate 51, to the under side of which are secured vertical depending spirally extending blades 53. As shown the member 51 is stiflened by upwardly pressed annular channel 54 therein.

fThe fan blades are shown as having bent `over ears 56 and 57 by. which they are secured to the disk member on the inner and outer sides of said reinforcing channel.`

The fan construction described is carried by a central hollow hub comprising a sheet metal cup-like member 60 adapted to surround and stand close to the inclined and bottomportions'31 and 33l of the fan Vshaft well. This sheet metal lcup 60 thus has a transverse bottom, a lower cylindrical portion, above that an outwardly flaring conical portion 61, and above that an outwardly extending ysubstantiallyhorizontal annular portion 62. In the preferred form, the fan disk 51 is`secured 'to this portion 62 while the inner ends of the blades 53 are-anged as shown at 58 and secured to the inclined portion 61. The horizontal portion is upwardly offset as indicated at 63 so that the extreme end may lie above the fan disk while the offset provides a shoulder positioning such disk. The sheet metal cup 60 has Secured to it on its under side a metal cllr 65 adapted to be secured to the fan s a t. 1

It will be seen that the disk 51, the blades 53, the cup 60 and the collar 65, which parte vmeager? are all rigidly secured together, provide a simple and strong and at the same time very light suction fan adapted to be mounted on a central shaft supported from above. I will now describe particularly the bearings for the fan shaft and then the method of driving the same.

The fan shaft is designated 70. It 0ccupies the well in the casing heretofore-described and extends through the bottom thereof and its lower extension passes into the collar 65 which is pinned to lit. Su'rroundingl this shaft within the cup 33 of the well is an annular vball race 72 and on the shaft is a cooperating race member 73 and between them is a suitable row of balls 74.

Directly above the race member 73 is a bevel pinion 7 5 pinned to the shaft 70.

It will be seen that the bearing described not only supports the weight of the fan and shaft and receives the downward gear thrust on'the. bevel pinion, butat the same time provides a'lateral support. A lateral support is provided fortheupper end of the fan shaft by means of the ,bearing thimble 80 occupying a central opening in the boss 41 on the upper end of the conical member 40. The shaft 7 0 has a reduced upward extension 79 occupying the cavity of the thimble. The thimble may have` a reduced threaded upper extension 81 screwing into the boss 41, a. suitable notch 83 in the upper end of the thimble enabling it to be readily turned into place.

The positioning member 40, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 5, has an arcuate flange 43 'at its lower edgel" which rests on the ledge 32 and suitable cap screws 45 hold this positioning member in place. The edge of the arcuate flange 43 "fits comparatively-snugly within the cylindrical wall 30 of the well,

being accurately placed, and when the cap screws are turned home the fan shaft bearings are thus accurately aligned and held in. position. Anyupward movement of the fan shaft is prevented by the shoulder thereof adjacent the reduced extension 79 engaging the under face of the thimble. The fan shaft is thus ositioned bearing, and the parts are capaliile of being made with sufficient exactness so that the shaft may be freely rotatable and yet have a minimum amount of play in any direction. This contributes to the quietness of operation. In the form shown in Fig. 8, a similar result is accomplished, the well member 31a being accurately seated within a circular recess 31c formed in the under side of the member 28a.

I rovide a suitable cover to be mounted on t ceasing and extending across the fan shaft. As shown in Fig. 8, this is a conheretofore described. In the form shown in given a delinite accuratelyy llO Figs 1, 3 and 6, the cover 85 is a sheet metal member having a downward iange 86 adapted to make a friction tight lengagement with the interior of the well 30, this flange being connected by an outwardly doubled edge portion 87 which rests on top of the casing.

The direct drive for the fan shaft comprises a bevel gear 90 meshing with the bevel pinion 7 5. This gear is rigidly mounted on the inner end of a horizontal radial lay shaft 92. This' shaft is journaled in suitable bearing sleeves 93 and 94 mounted in the upper frame casting, as for instance, in the tubular radial -portion 17 depending from the upper frame casting 12 in Fig. 6, or a corresponding portion on the upper side of the casting On the outer end of the shaft 92 is a spur pinion 95 by which the shaft is rotated. This pinion and the train of gearing thereto to be described, is confined within a gear case, one member of which comprises a wal 18 extending laterally from therframeand shown as integral with the upper member thereof, and the other member of .which comprises a suit-able plate 100 secured to such wall.

I will now describe the lmechanism by which the lay shaft is rotated, Mounted in an ear 27, on the under side of the lower casting and in a boss 97 on the extension 98 of the upper casting which provides part of the gear casing, is the main shaft 110. Rigidly secured to the opposite ends of this shaftare the supporting and driving wheels 111 and 112. These wheels are constructed in any suitable manner (as shown they comprise outwardly flanged disks edge channel in which is rubber tire 113) and they are suitably clamped to the shaft. On the side of the machine 'where the train of gearing is located the wheel 111 has rigidly secured to it a notched clutch member 114 shown as secured to it by screws. Loosely surrounding this notched clutch member is a cup l120 which is secured to a spur gear 122 freely journaled on the shaft 110. Between this cupand the notched disk 114 are balls 121 adapted to clutch the disk to cup. The spur gear 122 is shown as meshing with a pinion 123 which is journale 0n a stud 124 carried by the frame casting 10.- Coaxial with his pinion is a gear 125 to which it is pinned, and this gear is shown as meshing with the pinion on the lay shaft 92.

It will be understoodfrom the above described construction that whenever the sweeper is shoved forwardly the rotation o the wheel 111 and the clutch. member 114 brings the narrow portion of the notches in the latter into position yto bind the balls against the cup 120, whereby the wheel becomes clutched to the gear 122 and thereby l the brush. To the ends of 'screws 141 passing through providing -an d held in vtight engagement f a bail 'braces the upper casing,

through the train of gearing drives the lay shaft 92 and the fan shaft and the fan. l-Vhen the forward movement stops, the momentum of the fan and gearing cause such parts to continue their' rotation for a considerable time, the clutch cup rotating freely about the notched member. Likewise, on the backward movement of the device the clutch is free. y

The drawings show a rotary brush within the casing' above the .suction mouth, this brush being driven by wheels and gearing contained in pockets in the casing. This is a feature of the present invention and may be described as follows t-p-Extending across the extended mouth-piece of the casing in a fore-and-aft direction, are a pair of partition plates 132 adjacent the respective ends. These may beintegral with the casting. Sliding upwardly into these partition plates are bearing blocks 133. Journaled in the two bearing blocks is the shaft 134 of this shaft are rigidly secured pinions 135. These pinions mesh with other pinions 136 coaxial with the .front sup orting wheels 137 and rigid therewith. e wheel and its pinion are mounted on a stud 138 carried by the block 133. A suitable screw 139 extending into the end of the stud may hold the wheel pinion in place, The bearing block 133 has a disk-like extension 140 which substantially lls the entrance to the wheel cavity whereby dust is kept out of the gearing. As illustrated, the bearing blocks 133 are grooved on their vertical edges to slide into place in the partitions yind are held in position by ears 142 on the An aligned hole 143 in the casing may be providedl to allow the insertion of a screw driver or the end of the casing may be a removable plate.

Any suitable arrangement may be employed to connect the dust receptacle to the ejection mouth of the casing. I have shown a dust bag reinforced at its entrance by an internal metal sleeve 151 terminating in an outward flange 152. The bag is shown as held on this sleeve by lar 153. The ange of the internal sleeve abuts a rubber ring or gasket 154 and is therewith by screws 155 passing through ears on the flange. This makes the bag easily installed and readily removable. stood, however, that any other suitable construction may be employed.

I have shown at a suitable handle for propelling the sweeper. This handle has 161 at its lower portion which emthe bail being connected to this casing by suitable pins 163 and 164 which pivot it to ears 19 of the upper casing. The" pins 163 may conveniently be removable into the interior of the blocks.

It is to be underl an external col- 1 well, a fan surrounding casing, and the pin 164 externally removable, or other construction may be employed as desired.`

Inspection of the drawings at once shows the compact arrangement of the parts and also indicates the attractive appearance of the complete structure. The fan chamber, brush chamber and air directly communicative without troublesome deflection. The fan shown is adapted to produce a comparatively powerful suction, while the extent t9 which the dust must be lifted is, on the other hand, small. The result is a very efficient action. The gears are protected from dust and at^ the same time they are readily accessible for oiling, which is Aaccomplished by removing the top cover and the cover. of the gear casing, o1' suitable oil holes may be provided.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:-

1. In a suction cleaner, the combination of a casing having a fan chamber, a suction mouth and a communicating passageway, a horizontal shaft carried thereby beneath the casing but immediately adjacent thereto and behind the'communicating passageway, supporting wheels on the opposite ends of said shaft, a fan within the casing,l a vertical shaft connected tothe fan, a horizontall lay shaft disposed immediately adjacentthe casing and carried by the casing above the fan chamber, and gearing 4betweenthe lay shaft-and fan'shaft and between the lay shaft and one ofthe supporting wheels.

2. In a vacuum cleaner, the combination of' a 'casing including' a portion carrying a depending cup-like well, a vertical fan shaft' within the well mounted in a bearing therein and extending through the bottom of thev i the lower portion lof the well and connected with the shaft v ing meshing with said beneath the bottom of the well, a pinion on the shaft within the well, and driving gearpinion.

3. In a vacuum cleaner, the combination of a casing including a portion carrying a depending well, a vertical fanshaft within the well mounted in a bearing therein andI extending through the bottom of the well, a fan surrounding the lower portion of the well and connected with the shaft beneath the bottom of the well, a pinion on the shaft within the well, a lay shaft, a gear on the inner end thereof within the well meshing with the pinion therein, a supporting wheel, and vdriving means cennectingQi-t with the lay shaft.

4, In a suction sweeper, the combination ofy a hollow casing including a top 4 having an inte al depending cup-like well, a vertical sha t withm the well extending through the. bottom of it, two bearings cara gear 011 passageways are f c'lines inwardly terminating in member ternal ledge thereon and carrying a top` bearing for the shaft, mechanism for driving the shaft, and a fan secured to the shaft below the well.

6. The combination of a casing having a driving depending well, a shaft within the well, a

lower bearing forthe shaft withinthe well,

an approximately conical member carried wit in the well and having a top bearing for the shaft, a pinion on the shaft, a lay shaft, `a bevel gear on the lay shaft meshing with said pinion,

said top bearing member being cut away to provide space for said bevel gear, and a fan connected to the. vertical shaft below the well.

(7. In a vacuum cleaner, the combination of a hollow casing providing a fan chamber, asuction mouth,a passageway from the suction mouth to the fan chamber and an eXit fromthe fan chamber, said fan chamber having a substantially fiat bottom surrounding the opening passageway7 chamber, a

by which the suction communicates with the fan plate within the casing substantially parallel with the bottom of the fan` chamber, the fan being located in the space between such plate and bottom, a shaft-supportmg member carried by the top of the casing and depending through said plate and into the fan chamber, a shaft in such, member extending beyond the bottom thereof, and a fan in the fan chamberA connected with the lowerportion of the shaft.

8. In a'vacuum cleaner, the combination of a casing made up of a plurality of separable' parts and including upper and lower plate-like portions and a wall providing a fan chamber, said casing having a lower member with an intake opening and a suction passageway communicating with the lower central region of the fan chamber, and an.upper member carryin .a downwardly extending well which is su lindrical in its upper portion and then ina cu a bearlng 1n said cup, a shaft mounte in said bearing and extending through the bottom of the well, and a fan on. said shaft l,sur-

rounding the lower portion of the well.

arable parts and including a top `and .a wall stantially cyi providing a fan "chamber Within the-space defined thereby and a lower member havlng 4on the under side of said top portion )oined to it and to the outer surface of said Well, a partition plate on the 'under side of said webs surrounding-said well and lying substantially parallel with the bottom o the fan chamber, and a fan within the chamber. having a hollow hub surrounding the 'lower portion of the ivell anda shaft mounted in said Well and extending through the bottom vof the well, and connected to the shaft beneath the Well. l

In testimony whereof, I hereunto alix my si gnature.

` WLLIAM E. SHERBONDY. 

